The Battle of Cannae, 216 BC | How 50,000 Men Surrounded 80,000

August 2nd, 216 BC. On a plain in southern Italy, a Roman army eighty thousand strong faces Hannibal's fifty thousand. By sunset, the Roman army is almost completely wiped out. In this episode we follow the Battle of Cannae on real 3D terrain: Hannibal's oath and his march over the Alps, Fabius and the waiting game, the two consuls who took turns in command, Hannibal's strange bulging center, the cavalry fight by the river, and the sack that closed around the Roman army. It is still taught as the model of the pincer movement. Chapters 0:00 August 2, 216 BC 0:30 Act I · Two Great Powers 1:39 Act II · Battle Lines 3:19 Act III · The Sack 5:54 Act IV · The Reckoning 6:42 Epilogue · A Name Next episode: the Battle of Thermopylae, 480 BC, 300 Spartans at the Hot Gates. Maps are illustrative. Troop numbers follow the ancient sources and the usual modern estimates; ancient figures are disputed among historians. Blade & Map: every great battle, told on the map. #History #Cannae #Hannibal